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| Sales slide at Currys and Argos | Sales slide at Currys and Argos |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Sales at several of Britain's top retail chains have fallen markedly as a result of the economic slowdown. | Sales at several of Britain's top retail chains have fallen markedly as a result of the economic slowdown. |
| DSG International, which owns Currys and PC World, said like-for-like sales - which ignore new stores - had dropped 10% in the three months to 10 January. | |
| Home Retail Group said like-for-like sales at its Argos chain had fallen 7.5% in the 18 weeks to 3 January. | |
| DIY chain Homebase, which is also owned by Home Retail Group, saw like-for-like sales in the same period drop 10.2%. | DIY chain Homebase, which is also owned by Home Retail Group, saw like-for-like sales in the same period drop 10.2%. |
| Home Retail Group's chief executive Terry Duddy said: "Our markets continue to be significantly impacted by the sharp reduction in consumer spending. | |
| "As previously indicated, we expect the trading environment for the next financial year to be extremely challenging." | |
| In a statement the company said that while sales overall had fallen at Argos during the period, consumer electronics sales had risen "driven principally by video gaming". | |
| 'Challenging' year | |
| DSG International said it had benefitted from the New Year sales - with sales up 2% in the two weeks to 10 January. | |
| Chief executive John Browett said: "The sales pattern through the period was as we anticipated with customers waiting for the post-Christmas sales to purchase discretionary products, particularly televisions and laptops." | |
| But he warned that there was no sign of any sustained improvement in the economy. | |
| "We expect 2009 to be challenging across most of our markets and are actively planning and managing the business," he said. | |
| The group said it was planning further cost reductions in the current year of £20m because of the trading environment, bringing total savings for the year to £95m. |